Friday night saw PROGRESS wrestling returning to the North West where it saw a hell of a card put on for this big weekend at the BEC Arena. On a freezing night in Greater Manchester, it saw the action looking to be red hot indoors, even if the weather and venue wasn’t inside. The opening match saw Eddie Dennis taking on Big Damo in a clash of two tough men and friends, with the early exchanges being even with neither could find an advantage. The match itself was fine and good to watch, but the lack of crowd involvement not just with this match but a lot in the first half, did hamper the show I feel.
The Beast of Belfast had the better of the contest, but it was the efforts of Dennis as he showed heart to kick out of a few hard impact moves. In the end it saw Dennis getting the better of his opponent and getting the pin. After the match he cut a promo about the upcoming Super Strong Style tournament, and spoke about how in 2015 when he entered it last that he wasn’t good enough to be involved with the calibre of guys in the field that year. However, he said he was far more experienced and ready for the challenge this time around and you will see a better version than 2015.
Next on the card saw the self proclaimed ‘Greatest Professional Wrestler to Ever Walk Planet Earth’ in Tate Mayfairs going up against one of Pro Wrestling NOAH’s young lions in Taishi Ozawa. In the lead up to this match, it saw Mayfairs bad mouthing his opponent on social media and then saw him getting on the mic to put down the Manchester crowd, by bad mouthing the two big footballing sides in the city, but not before adding that Arsenal was a cut above them. The contest itself saw Mayfair pretty much dominate from the bell, as it saw his opponent getting very limited offense on Mayfairs who controlled the match. Ozawa took a risk when going for the Phoenix splash and saw him eat nothing but mat, as a Jaguar tooth was followed up with his new submission hold to draw the tap out from his Japanese opponent.
Manchester’s own North West Strong Luke Jacobs then took on the Golden Boy in Myles Kayman, as Jacobs dished out the strong style stuff to his opponent, where his chops had the Golden Boy’s chest red in no time. Kayman managed to battle back into the match, as he had a near fall with a powerbomb that Jacobs just managed to kick out on. Both these young stars seemed to have the other scouted, as they countered each other hold for hold and move for move. Myles thought he had picked up his debut win after a blockbuster off the top rope was followed with the Dominator, but it only got a two count. After a burning lariat and a Tiger Driver for a two count, Jacobs then hit a variation of a brainbuster to get the win and have the hometown hero prevail in a hard fought match.
In one of the marquee matches on the card, it saw the return of Zack Gibson and James Drake – Grizzled Young Veterans, Zack Gibson who was wearing his tradition Liverpool red attire, then grabbed the microphone and began to run down the crowd by expected nothing less than a ‘dead crowd’ due to where he was. A veiled dig at Manchester United fans of which Old Trafford is said to be quiet. In fairness though, he was right in his assessment even though he was trying to get ‘heat’ from the crowd, as the first half at least was dead silent. Their opponents were Lykos Gym, with Kid Lykos II and the newly crowned Progress World Champion in Kid Lykos, who won the title in a steel cage match v Spike Trivet last weekend.
GYV started the better of the two, as they seemed to target the smaller member of Lykos Gym, by going after Kid Lykos II. Their opponents would get more into the match and saw things flip the other way, as the ‘Shitwolfs’ then put the GYV under pressure. Lykos Gym then hit a Spanish Fly from Lykos II, as well as a running knee attack by Kid Lykos on James Drake to get a near fall, before Gibson and Drake responded by hitting a ‘Doomsday device’ on Lykos II for a near fall themselves. As the match reached its end, it saw a double team Brainbuster move result in Lykos II coming down on Drake to get the pinfall and score a massive win.
After the intermission, it saw your ‘Big Meaty Men Slapping Meat’ match, as Hammerstone challenged the longest reigning champion in the company today in Ricky Knight Jr, for his ATLAS title. This match was just impact after impact, as two beasts literally beat the crap out of each other in arguably the match of the night, as it didn’t just stay in the ring either. Both men hit impressive powerbombs on each other, with RKJ trying to hit a powerbomb and saw him having to readjust to be able to lift the mass that was Hammerstone and only got a two count. The turning point came when Hammerstone held onto the ropes to avoid a roll up, but as he turned to face his opponent, he was clotheslined out the ring and into the fence. Knight Jr then dove out the ring to send him crashing back into the rails again and left him stunned, before rolling him back into the ring to hit the 450 splash, where he would retain his ATLAS title in a slobber knocker.
Simon Miller then tangled with fellow Londoner Connor Mills, as since Thunderbastard, Mills’ new attitude has seen him on another level so to speak and this was a bit of an ass kicking for Mr Ups and Downs, as Mills was firmly in control of the match. Miller seemed to be favouring his leg and it wasn’t helped that his opponent kept kicking it to cause more damage. Simon battled valiantly, as he took a fisherman buster followed by a crossface, then saw Mills pinning Millers’ arms and proceeding to kick him in the head and cause the referee to call for the bell and see a stoppage. After the match it saw Simon Miller questioning where he went from here, and was then informed that he would be in the Super Strong Style tournament and vowed to not let the fans down.
In the penultimate match of the night, it was scheduled to be a mixed tag match with Lana Austin and Rob Drake taking on Gene Munny and Session Moth Martina. Unfortunately, Gene Munny announced that Session Moth wasn’t at Bowlers’ due to bad weather and her flight being cancelled, much to the delight of Austin and Drake. However, he did find a replacement for her and it was the ‘nine stone of Scouse Girl Power’ in Harley Hudson as the faces of her opponents dropped. It also saw the irony of a scouser being more popular than a local, as the last time it saw someone from Liverpool being cheered on so much from that part of the city, it was when Wayne Rooney played for Manchester United.
There was no doubt who was the fan favourite in the match, as chants of Gene rang around the massive venue with Austin running into Munny and bouncing off him, as he just looked bewildered. Hudson then got frozen out as the duo of Austin and Drake saw them take control. Lana asked for the microphone to give us some Lana-oke singing, as she started to give a rendition of “Baby got Back” of Sir Mix-a-lot fame, until Drake got in the ring and told her to get ‘serious’. Finally Hudson tagged in Munny, who cleaned house and saw him inadvertently having Drake DDTing Austin. Munny then got the microphone and proceeded to give us Munny-oke and give us his version of “Baby got back” as he hit a peach punch on Drake for a two count. The climax to the match saw Lana Austin grabbing ref James Greenwood and distracting him while swinging her leg back behind the legs of Munny, with Drake then hitting a big Falcon Arrow on Hudson for the win.
The main event of the night saw Preston’s Rhio defending her Women’s PROGRESS title against Ireland’s Debbie Keitel. Rhio had the advantage early on in the contest, but after Keitel tripped her up after she hit the ropes it saw the Galway Gal taking over and having the champion in trouble. Soon after a slap from the challenger to Rhio, it saw it sobering her up and having the champion come back into the match as both took turns to dish out punishment to the other. Following a headbutt from the champion, it saw both competitors fall down to the mat, where the strains of Lana Austin singing over the PA system to Aerosmith’s “I Don’t Wanna Miss A Thing!” (I loathe that song) as the singing had the crowd wanting the microphone to be cut out.
Austin then got in the ring mid-match, to which she began to sing “Baby Got Back” as she was about to push her backside into Rhio’s face for the peach punch, but Keitel kicked her between the legs and drew a “Thank You Debbie!” chant for the singing to stop. Austin was furious and began to cheer on her fellow North West foe, as due to the actions of Keitel she was now fully behind Rhio. Moments later, Rhio would net victory with a package piledriver to defeat the Irish challenger and have her retaining her title. Austin came in to celebrate and began to put the boots to the fallen opponent, with the champion then attempting to hit her with a package piledriver but dodged the bullet.
Overall: The show was very good and I feel was hurt by a quiet crowd that did pick up in the second half. Hammerstone v RKJ, Jacobs/Kayman were stand out matches with some ok matches on the card.